The present invention relates to a medicated tampon or drug delivery device, a method of fabricating a medicated tampon, and particularly to a tampon in a form which carries a medicament into vaginal cavities or the like.
Medicated vaginal tampons and tampon and suppository combinations are known for delivering medicaments or drugs into vaginal cavities for various reasons such as contraception or hygienic purposes. In some instances, it has become desirable to provide a means for delivering a drug into the vaginal cavity in the form of a capsule. For instance, such a tampon and drug delivery device is shown in my copending U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 171,845, filed July 24, 1980.
In other instances, it has become desirable to provide a tampon which is impregnated or distributed with a particular solution, powdered or crystalline material. One of the problems with tampons for delivering these type of materials is that it is difficult to achieve effective activation and proper application of the medicament or drug to the walls of a vaginal cavity. In utilizing tampons for delivering medicaments and drugs, the absorbent nature of the tampon corpus itself actually inhibits the dissolving or disintegratation of the medicament or drug because the tampon itself has a tendency to absorb the body fluids rather than permitting the fluids to dissolve the medicament or drug. This is particularly true when the medicament or drug is distributed throughout the body of the tampon corpus, as well as in prior art tampons where the entire corpus itself is impregnated with the medicament or drug.
Another problem with prior art medicated tampons is in the difficulty in controlling the rate at which the medicament or drug is broken down by body fluids. With the medicament or drug distributed throughout the entire corpus of the tampon, or with the corpus impregnated throughout the entire body thereof, it is practically impossible to control the effectiveness of activation of the medicament or drug because of the differences between absorbtion of body fluids nearest the outside of the tampon versus more central portions thereof and the distance between the center of the tampon and the vaginal cavity walls.
The present invention is directed to solving the above enumerated problems by providing a medicated tampon or drug delivery device wherein the medicament or drug is maintained near the outside of the tampon when inserted into vaginal or other anatomical cavities.